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Sheila Holland, née Sheila Ann Mary Coates ( in
Dagenham
Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross.
It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, England – in
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
) was best known under the pseudonym Charlotte Lamb as a prolific romantic novelist. She signed her novels with her married or maiden names – Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates – and under the pseudonyms Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. She was married to Richard Holland. They had five children, including a set of twins: – Michael Holland,
Sarah Holland
Sarah Holland (born November 1961 in Folkestone, Kent, England) is a writer, actress and singer best known for her 22 romantic novels for Harlequin which have been published in over 130 countries, selling millions of copies worldwide. She has al ...
,
Jane Holland
Jane Holland (born 17 November 1966 in Ilford, London) is an English poet, novelist and astrologer. She won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for her poetry in 1996 and her YA novel ''Witchstruck'', written as Victoria Lamb, ...
, Charlotte Holland and David Holland.
Biography
Personal life
Born Sheila Ann Mary Coates on 22 December 1937
at
Dagenham
Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross.
It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, England. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II.
[ ] She attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls in
Ilford, Essex.
She worked as a typist-secretary at the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
in London, from 1954 to 1956, and then as a junior researcher for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
at
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
from the 1956 to 1958.
In 1959, she married Richard Holland, then a Fleet Street journalist, later a
sub-editor
Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material ( copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual o ...
of ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' and a classical biographer. They had five children, including a set of twins: – Michael Holland,
Sarah Holland
Sarah Holland (born November 1961 in Folkestone, Kent, England) is a writer, actress and singer best known for her 22 romantic novels for Harlequin which have been published in over 130 countries, selling millions of copies worldwide. She has al ...
,
Jane Holland
Jane Holland (born 17 November 1966 in Ilford, London) is an English poet, novelist and astrologer. She won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for her poetry in 1996 and her YA novel ''Witchstruck'', written as Victoria Lamb, ...
, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Her husband prompted her to begin writing in the early 1970s.
She died suddenly on in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
. She had been living on the island since 1977 with her husband and four of her five children.
Writing career
A voracious reader, she wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot. In between raising her five children, she wrote many more novels.
She began her writing career as her married name Sheila Holland and as her maiden name Sheila Coates. In 1973 she signed ''Follow a Stranger'' as her most famous pseudonym: Charlotte Lamb, but later she used several other pseudonyms, among them Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf and Laura Hardy.
Her first historical and romantic novels were published by
Robert Hale and serialised in Woman's Weekly Digest. By the late 1970s, she was an established and successful author, publishing as many as twelve novels a year with
Mills and Boon
Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the ...
. That annual number rose over the next few years; by the late 1990s, she had published over 160 novels, most of them romances, others historical novels and romantic thrillers, achieving over 200 million sales worldwide. During the course of her career, she wrote for a variety of different international publishers including:
Penguin
Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
,
Collins
Collins may refer to:
People Surname
Given name
* Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat
* Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration
* Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...
,
Fontana,
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette.
History
Early history
The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...
,
Hodder Headline
Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acq ...
and
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
.
Known for her swiftness, literary style and versatility, Sheila Holland was able to write in several different genres – hence her plethora of pseudonyms as well as publishers. She typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel.
She was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident -even dominant- heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship.
Her last novel, a romantic thriller published posthumously with Hodder & Stoughton, was entitled ''The Angel of Death''.
Bibliography
As Sheila Holland
Single novels
*''Prisoner of the Heart'' (1972)
*''Love in a Mist'' (1972)
*''Lantern in the Night'' (1973)
*''Falcon on the Hill'' (1974)
*''Growing Season'' (1975)
*''Shadows at Dawn'' (1975)
*''Caring Kind'' (1976)
*''Gold of Apollo'' (1976)
*''Devil and Miss Hay'' (1977)
*''Eleanor of Aquitaine'' (1978)
*''Love's Bright Flame'' (1978)
*''Maiden Castle'' (1978)
*''Dancing Hill'' (1978)
*''Folly by Candlelight'' (1978)
*''The Masque'' (1979)
*''Secrets to Keep'' (1980)
*''Burning Memories'' (1981)
*''Playing With Fire'' (1981)
*''The Notorious Gentleman'' (1980)
*''Miss Charlotte's Fancy'' (1980)
*''Dream Master'' (1982)
*''Tears and Red Roses'' (1982)
*''Dark Fantasy'' (1982)
*''Secrets'' (1983)
*''Men Are Dangerous'' (1984)
*''Secrets'' (1984)
*''A Woman of Iron'' (1985)
As Sheila Coates
Single novels
*''A crown usurped'' (1972)
*''Queen's Letter'' (1973)
*''Flight of the Swan'' (1973)
*''Bells of the City'' (1975)
As Charlotte Lamb
Single novels
*''Follow a Stranger'' (1973)
*''Carnival Coast'' (1973)
*''A Family Affair'' (1974)
*''Sweet Sanctuary'' (1976)
*''Star-crossed'' (1976)
*''Festival Summer'' (1977)
*''Florentine Spring'' (1977)
*''Heron Quest'' (1977)
*''Kingfisher Morning'' (1977)
*''Hawk in a Blue Sky'' (1977)
*''Cruel Flame'' (1978)
*''Desert Barbarian'' (1978)
*''Devil's Arms'' (1978)
*''Master of Comus'' (1978)
*''Call Back Yesterday'' (1978)
*''Beware of the Stranger'' (1978)
*''Disturbing Stranger'' (1978)
*''Autumn Conquest'' (1978)
*''Long Surrender'' (1978)
*''Duel of Desire'' (1978)
*''Pagan Encounter'' (1978)
*''Dark Master'' (1979)
*''Fever'' (1979)
*''Forbidden Fire'' (1979)
*''Sensation'' (1979)
*''Twist of Fate'' (1979)
*''Silken Trap'' (1979)
*''Temptation'' (1979)
*''Dark Dominion'' (1979)
*''Love is a Frenzy'' (1979)
*''Frustration'' (1979)
*''Compulsion'' (1980)
*''Frozen Fire'' (1980)
*''Man's World'' (1980)
*''Night Music'' (1980)
*''Obsession'' (1980)
*''Savage Surrender'' (1980)
*''Storm Centre'' (1980)
*''Crescendo'' (1980)
*''Stranger in the Night'' (1980)
*''Seduction'' (1980)
*''Abduction'' (1981)
*''Dangerous'' (1981)
*''Desire'' (1981)
*''Girl from Nowhere'' (1981)
*''Heartbreaker'' (1981)
*''Illusion'' (1981)
*''Retribution'' (1981)
*''Wild Affair'' (1982)
*''Midnight Lover'' (1982)
*''Darkness of the Heart'' (1983)
*''The Sex War'' (1983)
*''Betrayal'' (1983)
*''A Violation'' (1983)
*''Haunted'' (1983)
*''Infatuation'' (1984)
*''Naked Flame'' (1984)
*''Scandalous'' (1984)
*''For Adults Only'' (1984)
*''Love Games'' (1985)
*''Man Hunt'' (1985)
*''Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?'' (1985)
*''Sleeping Desire'' (1985)
*''Bride Said No'' (1985)
*''Explosive Meeting'' (1985)
*''Heat of the Night'' (1986)
*''Love in the Dark'' (1986)
*''Circle of Fate'' (1987)
*''Whirlwind'' (1987)
*''Hide and Seek'' (1987)
*''Kiss of Fire'' (1987)
*''Echo of Passion'' (1987)
*''Out of Control'' (1987)
*''No More Lonely Nights'' (1988)
*''You Can Love a Stranger'' (1988)
*''Desperation'' (1988)
*''Seductive Stranger'' (1989)
*''Runaway Wife'' (1989)
*''Rites of Possession'' (1990)
*''Dark Pursuit'' (1990)
*''Spellbinding'' (1990)
*''Dark Music'' (1990)
*''The Threat of Love'' (1990)
*''Heart on Fire'' (1991)
*''Shotgun Wedding'' (1991)
*''Sleeping Partners'' (1991)
*''Forbidden Fruit'' (1991)
*''Dreaming'' (1993)
*''Fire in the Blood'' (1993)
*''Falling in Love'' (1993)
*''Wounds of Passion'' (1993)
*''Guilty Love'' (1994)
*''Body and Soul'' (1994)
*''Vampire Lover'' (1994)
*''Dying for You'' (1994)
*''In the Still of the Night'' (1995)
*''Walking in Darkness'' (1996)
*''Lovestruck'' (1997)
*''The Marriage War'' (1997)
*''Deep and Silent Waters'' (1998)
*''The Yuletide Child'' (1998)
*''Treasons of the Heart'' (1999)
*''Hot Surrender'' (1999)
*''The Seduction Business'' (1999)
*''Dormant: Shadow of Angels'' (2000)
*''Angel of Death'' (2000)
*''The Boss's Virgin'' (2001)
Enemies & Lovers series
#''Possession'' (1979)
#''A Secret Intimacy'' (1983)
Barbary Wharf series
#''Besieged'' (1992)
#''Battle for Possession'' (1992)
#''Too Close for Comfort'' (1992)
#''Playing Hard to Get'' (1992)
#''A Sweet Addiction'' (1992)
#''Surrender'' (1992)
Sins series
#''Secret Obsession'' (1995)
#''Deadly Rivals'' (1995)
#''Haunted Dreams'' (1995)
#''Wild Hunger'' (1995)
#''Dark Fever'' (1995)
#''Angry Desire'' (1995)
#''Hot Blood'' (1996)
Pages & Privileges series (multi-author)
*''Dark Fate'' (1994)
Man Talk series (multi-author)
*''An Excellent Wife?'' (1998)
Collections
*''Duet: Spellbinding / Dark Music'' (1993)
*''Best of Charlotte Lamb: Call Back Yesterday / Autumn Conquest'' (1984)
*''Best of Charlotte Lamb: Devil's Arms / Love is a Frenzy'' (1984)
*''Best of Charlotte Lamb: Compulsion / Seduction'' (1985)
*''The Charlotte Lamb Collection: Love in the Dark / Circle of Fate'' (1991)
*''Charlotte Lamb a Collection-Sept 93: Sex War / Desperation / Out of Control'' (1993)
*''Charlotte Lamb: a Collection'' (1995)
*''Duet: Call Back Yesterday / Circle of Fate'' (2003)
*''Duet: Wild Affair / Scandalous'' (2004)
*''Duet: Stranger in the Night / Runaway Wife'' (2005)
Omnibus in collaboration
*''Dolphin Bay'' by
Gloria Bevan
Gloria Isabel Bevan (20 July 1911 - 1998.) was an Australian-born New Zealand writer of romantic fiction.
Early life
Bevan was born on 20 July 1911 in Kalgoorlie, Australia, where her father was a mining engineer. When she was three years old, ...
/ ''Festival Summer'' by Charlotte Lamb / ''Safari South'' by
Kay Thorpe
Kay Thorpe (born 1935) is a British author of more than 75 romance novels. She published her novels in Mills & Boon since 1968. All her novels have also been published under Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Over a period of four decades, she has pr ...
(1981)
*''Romance Treasury'': ''Web of Silver'' by
Elizabeth Hunter
Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Hunter (also Walters and Sutherland) is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera ''Home and Away'', played by Clarissa House. She made her first on-screen appearance on 17 April 2003 and departed o ...
/ ''The voice in the Thunder'' by Charlotte Lamb / Carnival Coast by Lucy Gillen (1982)
*''Romance Treasury'': ''This Wish I Have'' by Amanda Doyle / ''Sister to Meryl'' by
Nerina Hilliard
Norma Kathleen Hemming (born September 1928 in Ilford, Essex, London, England – d. 4 July 1960 in Melbourne, Australia) was a British-Australian writer of science fiction and romance novels. She was Australia's first significant female scien ...
/ ''Desert Barbarian'' by Charlotte Lamb (1986)
*''Nine Months'': ''Forbidden Fruit'' / ''Simply Irresistible'' (1996) (Charlotte Lamb with
Miranda Lee
Miranda Lee (born Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia) is a popular Australian writer of over 75 romance novels. She published her novels in Mills & Boon's since 1990.
Biography
Miranda Lee was born in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, A ...
)
*''Snowbound'' (1997) (Shotgun Wedding by Charlotte Lamb / ''Murder by the Book'' by Margaret St. George / ''On a Wing and a Prayer'' by Jackie Weger
*''Captive Hearts'' (1998) (with
Lynne Graham
Lynne Graham (born 30 July 1956 in Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish author of over 100 romance novels. She published her novels in Mills & Boon since 1987.
Biography
Graham was born on 30 July 1956 in Northern Ireland to an Irish- Scotti ...
with Charlotte Lamb and
Robyn Donald
Robyn Donald (born 14 August 1940) is a prolific New Zealand writer of romance novels since 1977. Her books have print runs of up to 500,000 copies at a time.
Biography
Donald was born in Warkworth where her father owned a dairy farm. She tra ...
)
*''Boardroom to Bedroom'' (2001) (with
Emma Darcy
Emma Darcy is the pseudonym used by the Australian husband–wife writing team of Wendy Brennan (28 November 1940 – 12 December 2020) and Frank Brennan (1936 – 1995), they wrote in collaboration over 45 romance novels. In 1993, for the Emm ...
and Catherine George)
*''Bewitched by the Boss'' (2006) (Charlotte Lamb with
Alison Fraser
Alison Fraser (born in Natick, Massachusetts) is an American actress, voice actress and singer who has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in television and film. In concert, she has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, The White Hou ...
and
Leigh Michaels
Leigh Michaels is the pseudonym used by LeAnn Lemberger (born July 27, 1954 in Iowa, United States), a popular United States writer of over 80 romance novels. She published her novels in Harlequin Enterprises Ltd since 1984 to 2006. She also te ...
)
Graphic novels
*''Idol Dreams'' (2006) art by
Yoko Hanabusa
Yoko may refer to:
People
* Yoko (name), a Japanese feminine given name; variants include Yōko and Yohko
* Yoko Gushiken (具志堅 用高, born 1955), Japanese professional boxer
* Yoko Taro (横尾 太郎, born 1970), Japanese video game di ...
, the original story ''A Wild Affair''
*''Heart on Fire'' (2007) art by Yohna
As Sheila Lancaster
Single novels
*''Dark Sweet Wanton'' (1979)
*''The Tilthammer'' (1980)
*''Mistress of Fortune'' (1982)
As Victoria Wolf
Single novels
*''Sweet Compulsion'' (1979)
Omnibus in collaboration
*''Romance Treasury'': ''Heart of the Scorpion'' by Janice Gray / ''The Winds of Heaven'' by
Margaret Way
Margaret Way (b. Brisbane d. Cleveland, Queensland, Australia ) was an Australian writer of romance novels and women's fiction. A prolific author, Way wrote more than 120 novels since 1970, many through Mills & Boon, a romance imprint of Briti ...
/ ''Sweet Compulsion'' by
Victoria Wolf
Sheila Holland, née Sheila Ann Mary Coates ( in Dagenham, Essex, England – in Isle of Man) was best known under the pseudonym Charlotte Lamb as a prolific romantic novelist. She signed her novels with her married or maiden names – Shei ...
(1987)
As Laura Hardy
(Same titles as Sheila Holland)
Single novels
*''Burning Memories'' (1981)
*''Playing With Fire'' (1981)
*''Dream Master'' (1982)
*''Tears and Red Roses'' (1982)
*''Dark Fantasy'' (1983)
*''MenAre Dangerous'' (1984)
References and sources
Daughter's blog about Charlotte LambCharlotte Lamb in Mills & Boon*
ttp://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/charlotte-lamb/ Fantastic-Fiction's list of novels by Charlote Lamb*
External links
Charlotte Holland's website, pirategirrl.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Charlotte
1937 births
2000 deaths
English women novelists
English romantic fiction writers
Women romantic fiction writers
20th-century English women writers
20th-century English novelists